BANGALORE: In India, 56 percent of its population still struggle to meet their essential needs. Therefore, pursuing an ‘inclusive reforms’ agenda that enhances investments and generates more jobs will help to significantly reduce poverty in India, said McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report.

The report entitled ’From poverty to empowerment: India's imperative for jobs, growth, and effective basic services‘ compiled by MGI suggested four main priorities such as non-farm job creation; higher agricultural productivity; increased public spending to cut down critical gaps in basic amenities like health care, water, and sanitation. It has also projected that India could achieve an economic growth of 7.8 percent over the next decade provided the country implements inclusive reforms.

As per the report, the 680 million Indians live under the empowerment line that is more than 2.5 times the population of 27 crore masses below the official poverty line.

Anu Madgavkar, a senior fellow of the McKinsey Global Institute said, "Cost of bridging the Empowerment Gap is seven times higher than the cost of eliminating extreme poverty. Health care, drinking water, and sanitation make up nearly 40 percent of the gap in both urban and rural areas," reports Business Today.

Delivery of basic services in the country can be enhanced from 50 percent to 75 percent by private and social sector partnership; community participation; use of technology to streamline operations and monitoring of outcomes, the report added.